Bookmaking – Page 79 – Green Chair Press Blog

Turning the Pages

Most books are about the words inside — “Pride and Prejudice” is good whether in a used and worn paperback or a finely bound volume. Not so for most artists’ books. Not only do you need to “read” them in the conventional sense of reading the words but almost universally they can’t be appreciated or understood without manipulating the structure in some way. The paper, the binding, the overall construction contribute to the words and images.
So exhibitions of artists’ books can be difficult to mount effectively. The books are often fragile and from very small editions so can’t be handled or replaced. At most you can show one spread, the covers and the spine.
Enter the video — a short movie can show off a book very well. Here are two I know about; if you know of any other good online displays of artists’ books, let me know.

The Getty Museum in LA has a nice online display of Julie Chen and Barbara Tetenbaum’s Ode to a Grand Staircase (above).
This YouTube video for the song OK shows off the wonders of pop-up books.

More kids making books resources

In addition to the Bookmaking With Kids and Susan’s Kupinski’s Making Books with Children, there’s a new web resource for making books with kids. Arts, Books and Creativity is a year-long arts curriculum developed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The curriculum section of the site has PDF worksheets with book structure instructions and there’s also an interactive section with videos about making books and tying content to structure.

Teacher Features: Bookmaking with Kids

Recently I helped Cathy Miranker set up a blog about bookmaking with kids. She launched it just as the new school year is starting but already it’s got lots of ideas for making books with kids. Projects are tagged by age and grade level, and there’s a “calendar of ideas” with bookmaking opportunity prompts. And it’s not just about physically making books — the books encourage kids to write stories, read, draw, even present dramatic readings! Take a look here.

Obsessive Nature of Time

This week I started printing my 2008 calendar design. I’ve already printed my Christmas cards and some winter coasters. My obsessive pre-planning has the effect of making me feel as though I’ve skipped much of summer and fall and catapulted myself into winter!
Of course I’m not the only one who’s obsessive! Last year, Nikki Thompson of Deconstructed Artichoke Press made a bookwork for the PCBA Calendar Show called “A Contemplation of the Obsessive Nature of Time.” It’s 12 flipbooks, one for each month, based on prose writings by Julio Cortazar: “Preamble to the Instructions on How to Wind a Watch” and “Instructions on How to Wind a Watch.” She decided that the repetitive nature of a flipbook structure was the best for communicating obsessiveness and said, “originally I was thinking about using minutes or seconds in a year as the constraint for the number of flipbooks and the number of pages per flipbook, but practically speaking it was too obsessive, so I chose the twelve flipbooks, ranging from 28 to 31 pages.” I immediately bought a copy, not only because of the subject but it’s a wonderful way to think about the year rather than as structured set of days and weeks and months.
The images above are from the December flipbook. And below, my copy of her books spread out on my shelf. At the end of this month, Nikki is teaching a class in calendar making, “Handmade Calendars: From Concept to Completion,” at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Be sure to check it out!

All in One Place

flurrsprite has organized a Bookbinding Street Team on Etsy. (A Street Team is a group of Etsy sellers who band together to promote their shops.) She’s started a blog with links to members’ blogs. I especially appreciate having all those links in one place, and I’m really enjoying going through the blogs, especially the pictures and tutorials.
At My Handbound Books there’s a tutorial for making this origami fold book. Plus there are lots of great photos of her leather-bound books, as well as her adventures learning Medieval and Renaissance book structures.

Getting Organized

Rolled up tool case Jamye Jamison, a paper conservator here in the Bay Area, has a roll-up soft-sided case for her tools (bone folder, scissors, x-acto knife, brush, pencil, ruler…) that I covet. I use a zippered pouch for my own tools, but I have to dig around in it to find anything (and sometimes get poked). Jamye got her roll-up as a graduation present and it was made specifically for her, with bright fabric on the outside. She thought a roll-up case for knitting needles might work, so I looked on Etsy and found this case from Sarah Kincheloe. The inside is made of soft cotton and the outside is canvas. It has batting inside to protect my tools and a flap at the top to keep them from moving around when the case is rolled up. And the fabric is bright and cheery and makes me happy every time I unroll it.